Bicycle Mechanics - Paraffin and ... ? ... for chain lubrication

There were myriad places already available to put this, but I thought it would be clearer to start a new thread specific to the topic.

I have found many references on the Web and elsewhere regarding wax for chain lube. In fact today, for the first time, I used it, and frankly it wasn't that hard or messy a job.

But, I want to hear about additives. I have seen 80W motor oil, teflon microspheres, molybdenum disulfide powder, and graphite powder mentioned for various reasons.

I used graphite (because it was what I could find). I eliminated oil, because you seemingly would end up with the same, albeit reduced, problem as with oil alone - it is a dirt magnet. I understand teflon, as do we all I suspect. The Molybdenum disulfide is interesting, because it apparently bonds to the metal, which is supposed to help maintain a barrier to dirt.

So now - who among you has used paraffin for lubing your chain; what did you add (if anything); and what were your results?

Thanks...Gary

Ive been trying to find a source of moly disulphide in non-industrial sizes. Not easy. It does come in a spray on lube for fork-lift truck chains, which my local bike shop tested. It came out ahead of many bike lubes in its ability to keep lubing under pressure.

I used some motorcycle chain lube with molybdenum that I bought at the local hardware store.

It seemed to work pretty well, but it was gooey and collected on the chain like wax. It was grey in color and came off on me and my clothes, so I removed it.

I looked at Fisher Scientific and found molybdenum disulfide. It was only $375 for 100 grams! :eek:

Anyone know where to buy teflon microspheres?

Cheers...Gary

Originally posted by gmason
Anyone know where to buy teflon microspheres?


Teflon microspheres? DuPont used to sell pure PTFE as a chain lube from their web-site. DuPont doesn't want us to call it Teflon when we aren't using it as a non-stick cooking surface treatment.

I don't know about the microsphere stuff, but Finish Line and Tri-flow are two off-the-shelf lubes that contain PTFE. I believe Finish Line is a PTFE in a paraffin base, Tri-flow is PTFE in oil.

Pariffin alone is just not that good of a lubricant... it's not particularly "slippery." The biggest problem I have with paraffin as a lubricant is that it's solid. Once it is rubbed of a surface, it can't flow back onto it.

I did see a very large (5L) tin of wax for motorcycle chains. It contained all the slippery addatives for lubrication and was designed for hot-dip application.

roadbuzz - any idea where I can get some PTFE powder (which I assume would do the trick, suspended in paraffin)?

Thanks...Gary

Looks like the chain lube is no longer offered (or even mentioned) on their web-site... their Krytox page (http://exceed.dupont.com/Krytox/webpub.nsf/Pages/products.html) has a picture of a cyclist. :confused: